Bulldozer



J. BOULEY Jan. 28, 1969 BULLDOZER Sheet Filed July l2, 1965 lan. ma, m9 J. BOULEY 3,424,251

' BuLLDozER Filed July 12, 1965' sheet 2. of s Jan. 28, 1969 J. BouLEY 3,424,251

BULLDOZER I Filed .my 12, 1965 l sheet .3 of s Patented Jan. 28, 1969 1 Claim ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE A bulldozer blade with a central panel having an aperture therethrough, defining a trapezoidal channel consisting of two rearwardly and upwardly converging side members interconnected by a rearwardly extending top member.

This application relates to a bulldozer and more particularly to a bulldozer blade.

This invention is an improvement to the so-called U- shaped bulldozing blades of the type shown on U.S. Patent No. 2,845,407, wherein the blade is made up of three panels, a central panel and two side panels being inwardly and frontwardly facing.

The improvement essentially consists in providing an aperture in the central or straight section of the blade for bulldozers, which are used to break up the ground preparatory to loading by and into the so-called bottom loaders for haulage to another location. The aperture in the blade is intended for leaving behind a strip of earth of uniform cross-section flanked on each side by a smooth surface. The smooth surface of the flanking strip provides a good rolling surface for the bottom loader, thereby making the loading operation that much easier.

It is a diicult task for the bottom loader to scrape the surface of the ground and at the same time to load the scraped surface. Usually the bottom loader cannot maintain a constant effort without being pushed by a bulldozer. The bulldozer according to the present invention will scrape the surface and provide a strip of scraped material in the form of a strip of earth of uniform crosssection.

Another advantage -of the present invention consists in measuring the quantity of earth which will have to be picked up by the bottom loaders. The cross-section and the length of the strip given an exact measure of the quantity of earth or other material to be picked up by the bottom loader. This provides a method of checking the quantity of earth to be removed. If the earth has to be spread, the same method will provide an adequate measurement for the thickness of the earth to be spread on the ground according to the spacing of the strips.

Another advantage of the present invention permits the scraping of the sides of ditches.

A further advantage of the present invention consists of a mechanism for pivoting the side panels of the blades from an opened position wherein the blades are in a substantial plane to a position wherein the side panels are facing inwardly and forwardly.

Other objects and features of the present invention will be attended in the following detailed description referring to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of the blade of the bulldozer;

FIG. 2 shows a cross-sectional view of the blade and the strip;

FIG. 3 shows a horizontal sectional view of the blade and the strip along the ground surface;

FIG. 4 shows a rear view of the bulldozer on an undulated surface;

FIG. 5 shows the bulldozer in action along a ditch;

FIG. 6 shows a bottom loader picking up the strip left by the bulldozer shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 shows an embodiment of the bulldozer to obtain sloping edges on the ground;

FIG. 8 shows a perspective view of the blades, wherein the door in the central panel is in a closed position;

FIG. 9 shows a sectional view of the central panel with the mechanism for opening and closing the central door;

FIG. l0 shows the arrangement of the side panels adapted to open and close;

FIG. l1 shows the mechanism adapted to pivot the side panels.

The invention is directed to a bulldozer blade comprising a central panel and two side panels, the side panels being substantially at an angle with the central panel, a door in said central panel adapted to be opened to form an aperture, whereby material -gathered by the blades enters the aperture when the bulldozer moves forwardly.

FIGURE 1 shows a bulldozery 1 in dotted lines, and in solid lines the three front panels 2, 3 and 4 of the blade. The central panel 2 may be opened and closed. The side panels 3 and 4 are usually at a substantial angle with the central panel 2. Edge portions 6 and 7 are located at the external side of the side panels 3 and 4. Scrapers 8, 9 and 10 provide the scraping power on the ground and the panels 2, 3 and 4 serve to gather the scraped material.

The particular advantage of the invention consists in having a central panel 2 which may be removed, pivoted or slided away from its usual position. When the central panel 2 is removed from the said normal position, an aperture 5 appears behind the central panel. The aperture 5 is provided with plates 4'1 and 42 mounted behind the central panel to form a channel which tapers into a trapezoidal shape opening 11. The two side plates 41 are rearwardly and upwardly converging members and are interconnected by a rearwardly extending top member. The arrow A indicates the direction of the central panel in order to close the said panel in a sliding movement.

As seen in FIGURE 2, when the bulldozer 1 moves in the direction B, the earth 12 or the other material gathers in front of the panels, enters the aperture 5, is squeezed down to the trapezoidal shape opening 11 and leaves a strip of material 13 which has a trapezoidal shape. As seen in FIGURES 2 and 3, y14 represents the top of the trapezoidal strip and 15 represents the bottom or base of the said strip. The slopes on both sides of the strip have an angle which corresponds to a normal falling angle for the said material It may be seen from FIGURE 3 that the edges 6 and 7 cut a slice of material 12 wider than the width of the sprocket bands 16 and 17. Accordingly the bulldozer clears a band of earth from the edge 6 to the edge 7 and leaves behind a trapezoidal strip of earth 13 leaving on both sides of said strip smooth surfaces 18 and 19. Such an arrangement will permit a bottom loader to follow the smooth surfaces 18 and 19 and to pick up the strip 13 with a constant and regular thrust. The section of the strip being constant, a volumetric computation can be easily made of the earth to be picked up by the bottom loader. A bottom loader 20 is illustrated in FIGURE 6. The spacing between the strips may be computed if the earth of the material contained in the strip are to be spread evenly over an entire area. It may be also noticed from the bottom loader 20 in FIGURE 6, that the strips 13 of material are to be spread at a distance permitting the passage of the said bottom loader.

The present invention is very useful also to pick up the earth after the ditches have been dug such as shown in FIGURE 5. When a ditch 25 is dug, a quantity of earth 22 is pushed on the side of the ditch. It would be impossible for a bottom loader 20 as shown in FIGURE 6 to remove such quantities vof earth-22,-espeeially because the wheels of the bottom loader are located outside the scraper of the loader. The problem in such a case is solved by the bulldozer having blades 'designed according to the present invention. As shown in FIGURE 5, the right panel 3 of the blade scrapes slices 23, 24, and 25 of the material 22, the said material passing through the aperture `11 and forming a trapezoidal strip behind the tractor. It may be seen from FIGURE 6 that it will be easy for the bottom loader to pick up the strip of material left by the bulldozer shown in FIGURE 5.

FIGURE 8 shows panel 2 in a closed position in full lines and the panel 2 in an open position in dotted lines. For certain operations the central panel will be closed and the bulldozer may be used for its regular functions. Such an arrangement shows the versatility of the present bulldozer and, in particular, the blade according to the invention.

One embodiment showing a device for opening and closing the panel is illustrated in FIGURE 9. The back of the panel 2 carries a toothed pinion 26, and a top part of the panel 2 carries a gear 27'. The panel 2 is shown in an open position in dotted lines. The arrow C shown in dotted lines indicates the direction for returning the panel 2 in its closed position when an actuating mechanism actuates the gear 27 in the direction of the arrow 28. It is obvious that the panel may also be completely removed or hinged at the top in order to provide an aperture in the blade.

Another embodiment of this invention is illustrated in FIGURES 10 and 1l. The side panels 3 and 4 pivot in the direction indicated by the arrows D along pivoting axes 31 and 32. The adjacent surfaces 29 and 30 are spherical in shape and concentric with the pivoting axes 31 and 32. An arrangement of the two curved surfaces 29 and 30 is used in order to prevent the earth or other material 12 to pass between the side panels and the central panel when the side panels are pivoted to form an angle between them. The side panels 3 may be in line with the central panel 2 as shown in FIGURE 11 in solid lines. The side panels may be pivoted to form an angle for the purpose of reducing the width of the material to be picked up by the bulldozer or for accumulating more sharply the earth or other materials into the aperture 5.

A mechanism as shown in FIGURE 11 is forseen in order to pivot the panels 3 and 4 around the axes 31 and 32. A bracket 33 is fixed on an upper portion above the central panel 2 and a bracket 34 is fixed on the side panels 3 and 4. A piston 35 is installed between the two brackets 4 33 and 34 and is actuated to pivot the side panels 3 and 4 around the axes 31 and 32.

FIGURE 7 shows a particular embodiment of the invention. In order to obtain a slope between two different ground levels, a triangular blade 36 is fixed to the edge 6 of the panel 4 or directly on the side panel. The triangular blade has a shape corresponding to the slope which is desired between the two ditferent levels of the ground. The earth accumulated by the blade 36 is similarly picked up by the central panel 2 which, when in opened position, falls into the aperture 5 and through the trapezoidal opening 11, in order to form a strip 13 of material.

It is understood that the above detailed description and specic examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. A bulldozer blade comprising a central panel and two side panels, the side panels being angularly disposed relative to the central panel, an aperture in said central panel channeling means extending behind the said aperture in a trapezoidal opening, the said channeling means comprising rearwardly and upwardly converging side members interconnected by a rearwardly extending top member, whereby the earth accumulated by the panels when the bulldozer moves forwardly leaves a strip 0f earth of constant cross-section on the ground between the bulldozer track.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,230,704 2/ 1941 Sorensen 37144 2,646,633 7/1953 Jahn 37-155 2,927,385 3/ 1960 Blomquist 37-144 XR 3,028,698 4/1962 Schmitt 37-144 3,061,955 :1 l/ 1962 Violette 37-143 3,067,888 12/1962 Reynolds 37-117.5 XR

366,854 7/ 1887 Mathis 172-701 812,056 2/ 1906 Little 172-701 2,643,600 6/ 1953 Rinderknecht.

ABRAHAM G. STONE, Primary Examiner.

ALAN E. KOPECKI, Assistant Examiner.

U.S. Cl. X. R. 172-701 

